Managing to confuse myself...

[mrsSOAK]

Hello wise ladies of mumsnet,

Prior to the birth of my DD my cycle was so prompt and punctual you could set your watch by it.
After DD was born I opted for the copper coil form of contraception and had it taken out in July. My subsequent periods were 5 days late and three days late (which caused plenty of tentative excitment) but AF soon put a dampener on things.
I have downloaded fertility diary app and when confronted with the dates and data I opted for the usual 28 day cycle. it told me I was ovulating 3 days ago. I decided whilst at the supermarket the day after to get some ovulation kits which I then tried out, it was negative. I have used one yesterday and today and it is still showing as negative.
My concerns are: have I already ovulated? if I have would the test show any indication? Could I already be pregnant? (closes eyes tightly and crosses fingers hard)

Possibly the fertility diary is guessing because you have not given it any data such as opk or temperatures? Have you put your cm in? Why do think it is telling you that you ovulated 3 days? Also, have you put all your periods in - go back as far as you can. Even if you opted for the 28 days cycle the app will over rule this if you plot in the actual dates.

Ultimately, you don't have regular cycles yet so it will be hard for ovulation to be pin pointed without temping or monitoring cm or using opts.

I can't answer if you are pregnant because you don't say when your last AF was and if you are even late and whether you've been dtd regular.

Finally, I'm not sure which ovulation kit you are using but if it is negative it means that you are not in your fertile patch and imminent ovulation has not been detected (i.e. the LH surge). That could mean that you have either ovulated this month or you are yet to ovulate. You are supposed to start using them from about CD10 though, and I'm not sure what CD you are now?

Hope this has helped a little.

Hi allchat
The truth is I dont really understand any of this. I was lucky enough to fall pregnant the first time without having to go into any of these things. DH and I have been DTD every other day.
First day of last AF was 23rd September and I was finished bleeding by 27th
I'm using 'Freedom' kits.
If I have already ovulated would this show up on the test?
Sorry for being so useless at all of this and so full of what are probably really obvious questions.

Sure - don't worry. Same here and I only started looking online after the first failed month!

I'm not sure what the freedom kits are, but if they are similar to Clear blue they only tell you when you are fertile (i.e. the period leading up to and ovulation itself). If you are testing after ovulation there is no way to know now. It's too early for you to be pregnant though, so I suggest keep dtd this month and see if you have been lucky. Then if and when you start your next cycle, do the ovulation test kits a bit earlier.

If you have cervical mucus and you are used to looking at it, can you remember when it was similar to egg white? That is the easiest tracker of the fertile time. Also many woman have cramps around ovulation time. If you have these try and think when they happened this month.

This is a useful link for cm.

forum.prideangel.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=537

You've obviously been dtd, so you are absolutely in for a chance anyhow and maybe just take this time to do a bit of reading in case this month isn't lucky for you.

Good luck

Thanks.
Fingers crossed for you also

I think most apps will 'guess' that you will ovulate mid cycle, around day 14. However it is perfectly possible to ovulate just about anywhere in your cycle, although I think days 10-20 are the most likely period. So as a previous poster says, it looks like you are not ovulating now according to your opk, but that could either mean you have already ovulated, you are yet to ovulate, or you aren't going to ovulate this month (apparently can happen, v.annoying!). I got obsessed with opks when TTC and wouldn't recommend them now - when we finally did conceive it was the month that I gave up all the guessing and timing and just went with the flow...
Good luck!!!